Saplings

ARTICLES ABOUT SAPLINGS BY DATE - PAGE 3

IMPHAL: Grow more lemons - this is the mantra of a Manipuri NGO to help farmers increase production of the citrus fruit in an area of Ukrul district. The Information Centre For Hill Areas Manipur (ICHAM), the NGO, in collaboration with Kachai Fruit Farming and Processing Co-operative Society (KFFPCS) planted 25,000 lemon saplings at Kachai village, about 90 km east of here, last week. "Our target is to plant at least 40,000 saplings," said ICHAM president N Rajendro.

KOLKATA: The Rs 1,000-crore South Asian Petrochem (SAPL) has decided to mop up Rs 150 crore through preferential issue and foreign currency convertible debentures to fund its upcoming unit in Egypt and a new downstream petrochemical facility in West Bengal. The board of SAPL will meet on November 8 to approve the proposal. In a notice sent to BSE on Thursday, the company said: "The board of directors will meet on November 8 to consider preferential issue of equity shares to international institutional investors and to promoter companies.

MUMBAI: Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) on Tuesday entered its 62nd year, promising to plant one million saplings and take its medical service on rails- Lifeline Express to Uttarakhand for the first time. Besides the employees, its customers, vendors and dealers would be involved in planting saplings, the company said in a statement. The Lifeline Express consists of five rail coaches equipped with sophisticated medical and surgical facilities to provide diagnostic, medical and surgical treatment to poor, it said.

Be it a residential complex in Himachal Pradesh or an industrial unit in Haryana, real estate development across Zirakpur or water storage facilities in Delhi, this Mohali-based company has been able to spread its roots by supplying water tanks, PVC pipes and even rainwater harvesting systems since 1972. But of late, Diplast Plastics, earlier known as Diamond Plastic Products, has been spreading roots of a totally different kind ? growing fruits and vegetables in water. "It's something that we have been working on for the past one year and we have been successful in taking it to the commercial level," says Diplast director Ashok Gupta, who started the company in the early seventies with an investment of Rs 5 lakh.

Man must restore to nature all the greenery he has deprived her of in his mad race for urbanisation, commercialisation and what he considers civilisation. I do my bit to keep my surroundings green, clean and healthy wherever I am. As the Hotel Leela took shape in Mumbai 20 years ago, I realised the lack of idyllic surroundings that could enhance the striking features of the building. The land was barren, rocky and sandy. We brought tons of soil from Kerala, along with about 5000 golden coconut saplings.

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa government's new agricultural policy will be in place next month and would stress on crop diversification, development of horticulture and balanced use of water for irrigation. This was announced in the State Assembly by Agriculture minister Surendranath Naik on Tuesday. Crop diversification, development of horticulture and balanced use of water for irrigation would figure prominently in the new policy, Naik said while replying to the debate on the demand for budgetary grants relating to his department.

KOLKATA: Kolkata-based South Asian Petrochem Ltd (SAPL) has removed R S Lodha's accounting firm as its statutory auditors. A resolution proposing removal of Lodha & Co. and appointment of Lovelock and Lewis as SAPL's auditor was placed before shareholders today at the annual general meeting of the company which was carried with requisite majority. SAPL had received a notice from a shareholder, Mint Investment Ltd, expressing its opposition to reappointment of Lodha & Co. as the company's auditors for the current financial year.

Taller, not better Botanists say saplings thrive in polluted cities, more so than in the countryside. They believe damaging ozone is removed from urban areas by chemical reactions with other pollutants. As a result, city ozone levels drop to nearly zero at night and in the winter. Outside the cities, where ozone build up is greater, plant growth is stunted. Researchers in the US studied fast-growing cottonwood saplings planted in New York City and in rural sites on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley.

BANGALORE: Karnataka, famous for its two Ss ? silk and sandal ? is now betting big league on the latter. With the state government permitting cultivation of sandalwood by individuals, sapling distributors in Karnataka are gung-ho about opportunities from this aromatic wood. "We have been selling saplings since the last 48 months and expect the offtake to rise 100% this year as the Karnataka government has now permitted more private participation," says Lakshmikantha of Adarsha Nursery.